Flower-pot machine.



PATBNTED APR. 16', 1907.

C. SGHWARZKOPF. y FLOWER POT MACHINE. APPLIOATNN' FILED ma. zo. 1907.

ATTQRNEK.

UNITED STATES PATENT oiuuon.

FLOWER-POT MACHINE.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented April 16, 1907.

Application filed February 20, 1907. Serial No. 358.479.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES SCHWARZ- KOPF, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flower-Pot Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in flower-pot machines 3 and it consists in the novel details of construction more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on line 2 2.of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail taken through the large gear ofthe actuating mechanism on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional detail of the stud-block guideway, showing stud-block mounted therein.

The object of my invention is to equip a flower-pot machine with mechanism which will automatically effect engagement between the mold carrying the clay and the rotatable former which shapes the pot, the present mechanical devices taking the place of the usual pedal-operated lever by which the mold is reciprocated to and from the rotating former.

A further object is to adjust the length of the stroke of the mold or frame carrying the same, and hence regulate the degree of pressure between the mold and former according to the size of the pot to be formed.

The advantages of the invention will be better apparent from a detailed description thereof, which is as follows:

Referring to the drawings, F represents an upright frame mounted on the floor A, the frame being provided with guideways or tracks 1 1, between which reciprocates the head 2, the latter being provided with a centrally-disposed holder or mold 3 for receiving the clay. The holder receives or engages the rotating head or former 4, secured to the lower end of a shaft or spindle 5, slidingly feathered to the upper terminal bevel gearwheel 6, the shaft carrying a collar or ring 7, between which and the upper horizontal member of the frame is confined a spring 8, coiled about the spindle 5; The spring tends to force the head or former 4 to its lowest position, but permits it to yield upwardly should it meet with any abnormal resistance in its operation within the mold 3. The gear 6 meshes with a larger bevel gearwheel 9, mounted on the horizontal shaft 10 on top of the frame, the shaft terminating in a pulley 11, from which leads downwardly through the floor a belt 12, which passes over a belt-pulley 13 on the main drive-shaft 14. The latter has rotation imparted thereto by a main drive-belt 15,. passing over a pulley 16, keyed to said shaft and leading to any source of power. (Not shown.) The parts thus far described are well known in the art in the class of machines referred to, and I lay no claim thereto.

H represents a hanger for the support 'of the shaft 14, and adjacent thereto is a second hanger H (of which there may be any number) for the support of a parallel shaft 17, whose one end terminates in a gear-Wheel 18, meshing with a pinion 19 on the drive-shaft 14, the pinion 19 imparting rotation to the gear-wheel 18 and to the parallel shaft 17, as is obvious. The outer face of the gear-wheel 18 has disposed diametrically thereon a guideway 20,`which receives a sliding block 21, the latter being provided with a stud 22, projecting laterally from the guideway, the stud having pivotally secured thereto the adjacent rigid section 23 of a connecting-rod, whose movable or yielding section 23 has its lower end passing loosely through the lugs or brackets 24 24 of said rigid section. The section 23 has a sliding movement in the lugs 24, being limited in either direction by the collar 25 and normally forced to its outward or extended position by the expandingspring 26, coiled about the section 23 and having one end bearing against the terminal lug 24 and the opposite end against a collar 27 at the base of the terminal fork 28 of the movable or yielding section 23. The lug 29 of the head 2 is pivotally coupled to the fork 28, as shown.

Disposed longitudinally within the guideway 20 is an adjusting-screw 30, which may be manipulated by the terminal head 31, projecting beyond the adjacent terminal Wall of the guideway, said screw passing through the block `21, mounted in the guideway. By turning the screw in either direction the position of the block 21 may be shifted relatively to the axis of rotation of the gear-Wheel 18, (or to the axis of the shaft 17, on which the said gear-wheel is mountlOO ed,) and hence a careful adjustment of the length of the radius of the circle described by the stud 22 is possible. By varying this radius (or available crank-arm of the stud 22) we vary the length of stroke of the connecting-rod 23 23', and hence the length of stroke of the head 2.

From the foregoing the operation of the machine will be readily apparent, and in general may be described as follows: Rotation being imparted to the shaft 14 by the belt 15, the pinion 19 on said shaft imparts rotation at a considerably slower rate of speed to the gear 18 and a revolution to the stud 22 about the aXis of rotation of said gear-wheel 18, the radius of the circle described by said stud depending on its distance from the center of said gear-wheel. The revolving stud 22 thereupon reciprocates the connecting-rod 23 23', the latter in turn slowly reciprocating the head 2 and the mold 3 carried by it. The

mold being filled with clay advances it to-l ward the former 4, to which a comparatively rapid rotation is imparted through the medium of the belt 12, shaft 10, and bevel-gears 9 and 6, as clearly apparent from the drawings. As the mold 3 encounters the rotating former in its upward stroke the yielding character of the upper section 23 of the connecting-rod, as well as the yielding character of the spindle 5, carrying the former 4, prevents any undue strains between these parts, the springs 8 and 26 being, however, sufficiently stiff to insure sufficient pressure between the parts to form the clay shell around the former, which readily releases itself from the former upon the downward stroke of the head 2, the shell being set aside and dried and baked in the usual manner to form the flower-pot. The depth of engagement of the former with the mold 3 may of course be regulated by the length of the stroke imparted to the head, this length being adjusted by regulating the distance of the studblock 21 to and from the axis of rotation of the gear-Wheel 18. rIhe invention is of course applicable not only to flower-potmolding machines, but to any molding-machine.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a molding-machine, a suitable frame, a rotatable former carried thereby, a reciprocating mold cooperating with said former, a drive-shaft, intermediate gearing between the former and shaft, and the shaft and mold respectively for rotating the former and reciprocating the mold, a connecting-rod having a relatively fixed section and a springcontrolled yielding section coupled at one end to the mold, and having its opposite end revolving about a fixed center, and means for adjusting the length of the radius of the circle described by' said opposite end about the fixed center, whereby the length of the stroke of the connecting rod is correspondingly altered, substantially as set forth.

2. In a molding-machine, a suitable frame, a reciprocating head mounted in said frame, a mold onthe head, a connecting-rod comprising a relatively fixed section and a springcontrolled yielding section, coupled at one end to the head, a rotating gear-wheel, a diametrically-disposed guideway on one face of the gear-wheel7 a stud-block mounted in the guideway and pivotally coupled to the opposite end of the connecting-rod aforesaid, an adjusting-screw disposed in the guideway and passed through the stud-block whereby the latter may be adjusted to and from the aXis of rotation of the gear-wheel, a drive-shaft, a pinion on the shaft meshing with the gear-wheel, a rotatable former, and intermediate connections between the former and drive-shaft for rotating the said former during the reciprocations of the head and mold carried thereby, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES SCHWARZKOPF. Witnesses:

EMIL STAREK, MARY D. WHITCOMB. 

